Kheldara - Interview - Raiding and Espionage Focused

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview Kheldara. Kheldara and Illian are in my opinion the most dominate PvP raiders in both the forums and the Conflict channel.

As I am literally clueless about raiding, I figured to go directly to the source, and see how it all works:

General Questions:

How long have you been playing Saga?

Kheldara: "Since closed beta last year. My brother attracted me to the game."

Whats your favorite unit type and why?

Kheldara: "I'll be honest with you. I can't decide on a favorite unit or even a type. The unit on the field is my favorite if it is countering the enemy unit."

Raiding and Espionage Questions:
First of all is raiding fun as it's designed now for end game players?

Kheldara: "As of right now the raiding system is fine, or better put, 'It will do'. It is deficient in incentive and not as exciting as I feel it can be. The AI on the defense is quite subpar."

We all know that you are great raider, on the other hand tell us how often your frontier gets raided?

Kheldara: "When I first started raiding there was retaliation attempts that I experienced. They gained very little and I wouldn't say any of them succeeded. It's been quite a while since I've been raided. OUr gains are CONSIDERABLY higher."

What would be the number one change you would like made to raiding or espionage to make it more interesting?

Kheldara: "I hope one day they enable the ability to defend your own lands if you are currently logged in. As for espionage utilizing the card system for its success. Perhaps a certain card that can be customized. For example the Mercenary Assassins, they can be traded cards, and customized to increase their espionage success. Other than that the entire espionage system is missing that interactive aspect. Even increasing the gold spent for each espionage attack to increase its success and effectiveness."

Is espionage actually useful? I heard there was a cap to prevent you from espionaging more then once per day on a single player successfully?

Kheldara: "Yes there is a cap, but that's where consistency and teamwork can bring enough damage. Unless you are consistent with your goal to hurt with espionage, then do not even bother. It's useful in finding out enemy information yes, But actual damage to the enemy requires an anal determination."

I guess they tuned it down so you couldn't hurt economy PvE players?

Kheldara: "Yes possibly. But it's still possible with enough focus. The 'annoying factor' can be enough."

Everyone talks about Heavy Cav, Ballista, and Cav Archers as the best all around defence force, as an active raider, what do you find the trickist units to fight?

Kheldara: "A good mix is important to have to defend from different types of units being fielded. But with someone with good micromanagement skills a defense like that will only slow (a raider) down. Oh and strong and fast units are more effective."

Can you give an example of a mix that will work?

Kheldara: "If you wanted 1 territory to be well defended. You will need 2-3 units of your strongest factional units. That means level 8+ fitted for speed. Then add heavy Cav. A good defense must be worked for, not merely fielding level 1s and commons. Remember a good raider will not have a problem they will merely be slowed down. They are still fighting the AI."

So Chariots/Gryph Riders/Gold Dragons for Light?

Kheldara: "Your strongest and fastest. The Gold Dragon will never do in any situation other then PvE. Gryph riders will work, and chariots as well. For Nature, its bear riders, treants and eagles."

What raiding bugs are the worst for raiders?

Kheldara: "From the offensive end for a raider, the biggest bug is that inability to detroy buildings. Plunder is one aspect, but because we cannot raze buildings the incentive drops drastically."

Tell us about Guild Wars and the 250 points system. I haven't heard about alot of current wars, are they fun, and are they well designed?

Kheldara: "The current Guild Wars system is horrible. They need a full revamp. They are boring and are NOT rewarding. A war can be over before you even log back in the next day. A single person can win a Guild War. The system is really bad right now. 2-3 successful raids and the war is over. The team aspect of it and contributing to win the war does not even exist."

Specific Raiding Questions, (that I know I personally don't know), but that I'd

like to talk about in my blog:

You have four wilderness territories, isn't that alot of troops to have garrisoned?

Kheldara: "The gain from defending four territories is quite substantial compared to having 1-2 very well defended territories. Yes the amount of troops it takes to defend 4 territories is quite high, but that is where your ability to use the trading system to gather cards comes into play. If you want to feel the benefit of 4 territories it must be well defended. And all of that must be earned."

If a garrison army (the defenders) is defeated in a raid, do troops die and have to get rezd with god favor?

Kheldara: "Currently, we believe it is currently bugged. In our experiences of raiding the troops return full strength. They do not die and need to be resurrected at the temple. That is the current advantage for the defender as again their losses are not as great again reflecting the incentive loss for the raider.

I know the Army Size can vary from 50 CP to 150 CP, how big is the cooresponding force?

Kheldara: "The defending force will depend on your current level. The defender can deploy up to 1000 cp of troops during the entire raid. But the ammount that is deployed depends on the amount of CP the raider chooses to deploy. That is the range from 50-150CP."

For new raiders, what settings do you recommend for raiding? 3min - 5 min, 50CP through 150CP.

Kheldara: "For a new raider, inforamtion is the key to success. That means espionage data, assessment, planning and deploying what is needed to succeed. Spend no less than 5 mins and deploy 150CP. The more deployed, the better your chances to succeed."

Any specific things you want to say about raiding that I missed asking?

Kheldara: "Yes. Raiding requires skill on unit control. Micromanagement. Any defense can be destroyed, any territory raided, as long as you can control the field of battle. Where is this experienced gained? Player vs Player PvP! Get on the field, play other players. You will learn how to defeat the enemy when underhanded. When attacking, you are underhanded. They territory defense will always be stronger, unless the enemy does not deply correctly or at all. Learning to act when at a disadvantage is experience gained from real players. So go play real players."

Any shoutouts you would like to make to any particular players?

Kheldara: "All hail the Einherjar, but fear Illian and his Crusaders. I shop at SagaUnits.com."

THANKS KHELDARA!